1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrically driven cutters and more particularly to cutters adapted for opening casts on the body of the patient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Removal of casts from the body of an injured person is a task requiring care and attention to detail in order to avoid additional injury. Most often such tasks have been performed in the past by power driven devices wherein one or more rotary cutters open up the cast for removal. In order to prevent injury, such prior art cutters usually included a bottom plate or shield which is insertable on the interior of the cast, shielding the body surface of the patient from the sharp cutters. Said bottom or shield plates were often suspended from the cutter carriage and as the cut was made the size of the kerf dictated the support structure therefor. The size of the kerf, furthermore, dictates the manipulative convenience of the cutter itself and therefore is both structurally and manipulatively significant in the use intended. In each instance, however, the separation between the cutter edge and the bottom plate has been kept to a minimum and because of the kerf size and the disposition of said plate certain amount of flexure in a support thereof was unavoidable. Thus most prior art cutters of this type would experience certain amount of bottoming out with the resulting production of metal chips and dulling of the cutting edge.